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Ten Fun Facts About Drones

Sending out a drone from the USS Comstock (Photo credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery)

Drones are coming to America in force! (Thanks to Congressional pushing.) So you’d better be ready for them. Here are 10 fun facts about drones from recent news and gleaned from attending a trade organization conference Wednesday. Members of the military spoke to an audience comprised mainly of drone industry folks about how they’re using “weapons that both look and shoot” abroad and how they hope to ease those drones’ transition into U.S. skies.

1. There could be 30,000 drones overhead in the U.S. by 2020, reports the Washington Times.

2. Reaper drones’ “unblinking stare” can currently take in a 4 kilometer by 4 kilometer area — about the size of Fairfax — but that will soon be expanded, said Air Force Lieutenant General Larry James, to a 10 kilometer by 10 kilometer stare, or two-thirds the size of Washington, D.C. They call this the “Gorgon Stare” — named for the terrifying females of Greek mythology, the best known being the snake-headed Medusa. No drones have the ability to turn you to stone with their gaze (yet).

Protesters outside of the UASVI conference

3. There’s a fair amount of disagreement about what to call drones. The industry refers to them as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Though one manufacturer, MLB Company, which launched its business in the late 1990s when no one knew what a “UAV” was and associated “drones” only with Office Space, coined the name “spy planes” for the flying machines. The Air Force calls them RPAs (remote piloted aircraft) because “they aren’t unmanned; there are pilots involved,” protested one Air Force lieutenant general. When not talking about massive Predator type drones, but instead referring to the type you can fit in the trunk of your car, many call them sUAS (small unmanned air systems). Opponents meanwhile have coined the catchy “killer drones” to describe the not-so cuddly flying machines.

4. The surveillance industry wants drones to be more cuddly, though. In Britain, manufacturers have suggested painting drones bright colors as a way to make them seem friendlier and less reminiscent of war zones, reports The Guardian. Because Big Brother is a lot more appealing wearing hot pink, quips Slate.

The Northrop Grumman LEMV may be the world's largest unmanned aircraft. The all-seeing blimp is seven stories tall.

5. To drone manufacturers, resistance is futile… but hilarious. California Congressman Buck McKeon, a proud member of the Unmanned Systems Caucus, gave a keynote hoorah at the AUSVI conference Wednesday morning. His speech lamenting cuts to the military budget over the last 50 years was interrupted by a middle-aged woman who rushed the stage saying, “We want spending on education, not war.” This got a few laughs from the hundreds of drone industry members in the audience. As she was physically lifted and carried off the stage, she chanted, “Stop killer drones.” That got some boos and even heartier laughs from the audience.

6. The Air Force has 65,000 – 70,000 people working to process all of the data and footage it’s currently collecting from drones. Lt. Gen. James says the analysts’ work includes “watching life in Afghanistan and looking for patterns,” and that a Rand review suggested they need 100,000 people devoted to the task. The military hope is that better computer algorithms and software analysis can be developed to combat their drowning in data.

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Great story, Kashmir. Drones are definitely going to become a larger piece of the larger aerospace picture in the future. I don’t think it’s unthinkable to expect unmanned aircraft to replace commercial airliners in the next few decades.

Kashmir, thanks for the story! Great insight into this exciting (and growing) area! I didn’t realize that VANGUARD DEFENSE uses tasers on their UAV’s. It will certainly will be a topic of discussion at my next meeting. Thanks!

Just because you hear or see the word “drone”, it doesn’t mean spying. In fact, the bill is trying to address how the FAA will address how to regulate unmanned aircraft. I even took the time to put the proposed bill right here for you: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2012/02/faa-uas.html

So, this is actually a good thing because it allows unmanned aircraft to be used privately and commercially. Yes, I understand that this includes law enforcement, but other uses are far more valuable. Such things like:

Search and Rescue

Farming and Ranching

Forest Fire Fighting

Tornado and Hurricane research (or any kind of research for that matter)

These things really are amazing. The small systems you referred to (for example the AeroVironment Puma) have amazing optical resolution for under $200k per system (system includes 2 aircraft and a GCS). They are basically souped up and survivable RC planes with great optics and more robust control systems. It is going to be impossible to put this low cost genie back in the bottle.